Spain's opulent mixture of cultures and religions have left it rich with notable sites for the traveler to explore, from the Arab Walls of Madrid to the Roman hippodrome in Toledo, from the palace complex of Saville to the Islamic fortress in Malaga. Diagrams & Maps.
Category: Social Science

The city of Rome is the largest archaeological site in the world, capital and showcase of the Roman Empire and the centre of Christian Europe. This guide provides: · Coverage of all the important sites in the city from 800 BC to AD 600 and the start of the early middle ages, drawing on the latest discoveries and the best of recent scholarship · Over 220 high-quality maps, site plans, diagrams and photographs · Sites divided into fourteen main areas, with star ratings to help you plan and prioritize your visit: Roman Forum; Upper Via Sacra; Palatine; Imperial Forums; Campus Martius; Capitoline Hill; Circus Flaminius to Circus Maximus; Colosseum and Esquiline hill; Caelian hill and the inner via Appia; Lateran to Porta Maggiore; Viminal hill; Pyramid to Testaccio; the outer via Appia; other outlying sites; Museums and Catacombs. · Introduction offering essential background to the history and culture of ancient Rome, placing the city in the context of the development of the empire, highlighting the nature of Roman achievement, and explaining how Rome came to be the largest city in the ancient world. · Comprehensive glossaries of Rome's building materials, techniques and building types, a chronological table of kings, emperors, and the early popes, information about opening times, references and suggestions for further reading and a detailed user-friendly index. For this new edition the original text has been extensively revised, adding over 20 more sites and illustrations, the itineraries have been re-organized and expanded to suit the many changes that have taken place in the past decade, and the practical information and references have been fully updated.
Category: Architecture

The ultimate guide to all the important archaeological sites in the city of Rome from the period 800 BC to AD 600, with over 200 site maps, plans, and photographs, covering everything from the Colosseum to the Catacombs and including an introduction that offers essential background to the culture and history of ancient Rome, information about museums and opening times, a chronology for reference, and comprehensive glossaries of essential terms. For this newedition the original text has been extensively revised, adding over 20 more sites and illustrations, the itineraries have been re-organized and expanded to suit the many changes that have taken place in thepast decade, and the practical information and references have been fully updated.
Category: History

Ireland is a country rich in archaeological sites. Ireland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide provides the ultimate handbook to this fascinating heritage. Covering the entire island of Ireland, from Antrim to Wexford, Dublin to Sligo, the book contains over 250 plans and illustrations of Ireland's major archaeological treasures and covers sites dating from the time of the first settlers in prehistoric times right up to the seventeenth century. The book opens with a useful introduction to the history of Ireland, setting the archaeological material in its wider historical context, and then takes the reader on an unparalleled journey through the major sites and places of interest. Each chapter focuses on a particular geographical region and is introduced by a useful survey of the history and geography of the region in question. This is followed by detailed descriptions of the major archaeological sites within each region, arranged alphabetically and including travel directions, historical overview of the site, and details of the site's major features and the latest available archaeological evidence. As the most comprehensive and detailed compact guide to the archaeological sites of Ireland, this new volume will prove invaluable to archaeologists, students of Irish history, and tourists alike.
Category: History

This illustrated Guide written by experts offers up-to-date descriptions and plans of over a hundred major and minor archaeological sites in mainland Greece, dating from the Neolithic to the early Christian eras. There is extensive background information on each site and on the general history and archaeology of Greece in this period.
Category: Social Science

Of immense significance to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the Holy Land has been attracting visitors since the fifth century BC. Covering all the main sites both in the city of Jerusalem and throughout the Holy Land and including over 150 high quality site plans, maps, diagrams, and photographs, this book provides the ultimate visitor guide to the rich archaeological heritage of the region. Fully updated with all the latest information, this new edition includes updates on the crucial recent developments at the Holy Sepulchre and on six completely new sites, including a Middle Bronze Age water system in Jerusalem and what may be the original Pool of Siloam.
Category: Travel

The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology provides a current and comprehensive guide to the recent and on-going archaeology of Mesoamerica. Though the emphasis is on prehispanic societies, this Handbook also includes coverage of important new work by archaeologists on the Colonial and Republican periods. Unique among recent works, the text brings together in a single volume article-length regional syntheses and topical overviews written by active scholars in the field of Mesoamerican archaeology. The first section of the Handbook provides an overview of recent history and trends of Mesoamerica and articles on national archaeology programs and practice in Central America and Mexico written by archaeologists from these countries. These are followed regional syntheses organized by time period, beginning with early hunter-gatherer societies and the first farmers of Mesoamerica and concluding with a discussion of the Spanish Conquest and frontiers and peripheries of Mesoamerica. Topical and comparative articles comprise the remainder of Handbook. They cover important dimensions of prehispanic societies—from ecology, economy, and environment to social and political relations—and discuss significant methodological contributions, such as geo-chemical source studies, as well as new theories and diverse theoretical perspectives. The Handbook concludes with a section on the archaeology of the Spanish conquest and the Colonial and Republican periods to connect the prehispanic, proto-historic, and historic periods. This volume will be a must-read for students and professional archaeologists, as well as other scholars including historians, art historians, geographers, and ethnographers with an interest in Mesoamerica.
Category: History

A major new book on the archaeology of Rome. The chapters, by an impressive list of contributors, are written to be as up-to-date and useful as possible, detailing lots of new research. There are new maps for the topography and monuments of Rome, a huge research bibliography containing 1,700 titles and the volume is richly illustrated. Essential for all Roman scholars and students. Contents: Preface: a bird's eye view ( Peter Wiseman ); Introduction ( Jon Coulston and Hazel Dodge ); Early and Archaic Rome ( Christopher Smith ); The city of Rome in the Middle Republic ( Tim Cornell ); The moral museum: Augustus and the image of Rome ( Susan Walker ); Armed and belted men: the soldiery in Imperial Rome ( Jon Coulston ); The construction industry in Imperial Rome ( Janet Delaine and G Aldrete ); The feeding of Imperial Rome: the mechanics of the food supply system ( David Mattingly ); `Greater than the pyramids': the water supply of ancient Rome ( Hazel Dodge ); Entertaining Rome ( Kathleen Coleman ); Living and dying in the city of Rome: houses and tombs ( John Patterson ); Religions of Rome ( Simon Price ); Rome in the Late Empire ( Neil Christie ); Archaeology and innovation ( Hugh Petter ); Appendix: Sources for the study of ancient Rome ( Jon Coulston and Hazel Dodge ).
Category: History

"In the heart of the ancient Near East (modern Middle East) and at a crossroads between once mighty powers such as Assyria to the east and Egypt to the south is a tiny piece of land -- roughly the size of New Jersey -- that is as contested as it is sacred. One cannot even name this territory without sparking controversy. Originally called Canaan after its early inhabitants (the Canaanites), it has since been known by various names. To Jews this is Eretz-Israel (the Land of Israel), the Promised Land described by the Hebrew Bible as flowing with milk and honey. To Christians it is the Holy Land where Jesus Christ -- the messiah or anointed one -- was born, preached, and offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice. Under the Greeks and Romans, it was the province of Judea, a name which hearkened back to the biblical kingdom of Judah. After the Bar-Kokhba revolt ended in 135 C.E., Hadrian renamed the province Syria-Palestina, reviving the memory of the long-vanished kingdom of Philistia. Under early Islamic rule the military district (jund) of Filastin was part of the province of Greater Syria (Arabic Bilad al-Sham). In this book, the term Palestine is used to denote the area encompassing the modern state of Israel, the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, and the Palestinian territories"--
Category: Art

The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs, the first of its kind, provides a current overview of recent research on the Aztec empire, the best documented prehispanic society in the Americas. Chapters span from the establishment of Aztec city-states to the encounter with the Spanish empire and the Colonial period that shaped the modern world. Articles in the Handbook take up new research trends and methodologies and current debates. The Handbook articles are divided into seven parts. Part I, Archaeology of the Aztecs, introduces the Aztecs, as well as Aztec studies today, including the recent practice of archaeology, ethnohistory, museum studies, and conservation. The articles in Part II, Historical Change, provide a long-term view of the Aztecs starting with important predecessors, the development of Aztec city-states and imperialism, and ending with a discussion of the encounter of the Aztec and Spanish empires. Articles also discuss Aztec notions of history, writing, and time. Part III, Landscapes and Places, describes the Aztec world in terms of its geography, ecology, and demography at varying scales from households to cities. Part IV, Economic and Social Relations in the Aztec Empire, discusses the ethnic complexity of the Aztec world and social and economic relations that have been a major focus of archaeology. Articles in Part V, Aztec Provinces, Friends, and Foes, focuses on the Aztec's dynamic relations with distant provinces, and empires and groups that resisted conquest, and even allied with the Spanish to overthrow the Aztec king. This is followed by Part VI, Ritual, Belief, and Religion, which examines the different beliefs and rituals that formed Aztec religion and their worldview, as well as the material culture of religious practice. The final section o
Category: Aztecs